Elliot Johnson's great parking lot adventure

Rays INF Elliot Johnson has become fond of using Twitter and is big on originality. So when a fan Tweeted him an invitation Wednesday afternoon to come out the parking lot and play catch before the game, Johnson basically figured "why not" and went out.

"We're getting here a little bit later so we've got a little bit more free time and originality points for him for asking me,'' Johnson said. "He probably didn't expect me to go out there, and his friends attested to that.''

Once the fan who did the inviting, @ChrisBellTB, got over his initial shock, Johnson - who was wearing his uniform pants and a workout shirt - said they hung out and played catch for 10-15 minutes. The only problem was that Bell didn't have a glove, so Johnson bounced his throws.

"They were good dudes,'' Johnson said. "It was a good time. Why not?"

Johnson made it a full fan adventure, as he walked through the concourse and parking lot. "A few people were like, "Who was that?" and a couple people stopped me to say hit, but otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing,'' Johnson said. "I'm not David Price, I don't have a million followers, and I'm not Longo, so I can still get away with things.''

On his account, @elliotjohnson9 , Johnson runs a weekly lineup contest and regularly interacts with fans. He said he has already gotten more invitations, but will be looking for the right one for his next adventure. "They've got to come up with something original, and there's got to be the opportunity,' ' he said. "A lot of things have to go right for something like that to happen.''

Bell said Thursday: "EJ is such a great guy, couldn't have been nicer, it was a great experience.''

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